Tribology and high temperature friction wear behavior of MCrAlY laser cladding coatings on stainless steel

Abstract Temperature can have a significant effect on the extent of wear damage of metallic components. Thermal barrier coatings can improve the high temperature tribological and friction wear behavior. In this work the dry friction and wear behavior at low and high temperature of NiCoCrAlY and CoNiCrAlY laser cladding coatings were evaluated, as well as for the austenitic stainless steel AISI 304 used as substrate. Dense coatings, with good bonding to the substrate was obtained by coaxial laser cladding tracks (40% overlapping), with previously optimized laser parameters. Tribological wear tests were performed by sliding wear at room temperature and 500 °C, with an Al2O3 ball on disk configuration tribometer. The wear scar surface was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) microanalysis. The 3D topography of the wear track was determined by inductive contact profilometer which enabled the wear rate calculation. The microstructure of the coatings consists of γNi/β-NiAl or γCo/β-(Co,Ni)Al phases depending on the chemical composition of the alloy, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The wear test results show a reduction in wear rate at high temperature for all materials tested. For the NiCoCrAlY coating, the high temperature also reduces the friction coefficient, while it significantly increases the friction coefficient of CoNiCrAlY coating. The main damage mode is abrasion and adhesion, caused by the oxide and partially-oxidized particles in the contact surface. The coatings and substrate results were compared, resulting in an improved wear behavior.